A recent decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court represented a clear victory for Minnesota's newspapers, and we applaud the court for it.
The decision to not alter an earlier Court of Appeals ruling for journalists at the Mankato Free Press effectively squashed subpoena attempts by the Blue Earth County attorney. The county attorney had hoped the newspaper would be forced to provide testimony and unpublished materials involving an armed standoff that occurred in late 2006 in rural Blue Earth County.
In their defense, the Free Press invoked the protections of Minnesota's shield law, the Free Flow of Information Act. A Blue Earth County judge had ruled against the newspaper in March 2007, but the state Court of Appeals had reversed that decision last fall.
The decision for the Free Press is important, as reinforcement of the shield law reaffirms journalists' rights to cover the news to their fullest abilities without facing legal intimidation. In this case, we are confident the newspaper published the relevant facts, and that claims for notes would have netted no useful information. So why protect it closely, then? It's the principle -- newspapers shouldn't have to face recrimination at each publication of a controversial story.
We can only hope the concept of a shield law will continue gain support on a federal level. This would eliminate confusion in similar, varying laws existing in many different U.S. states.
